Challenges

As I walked along the road towards the school my heart was full of anticipation (and some fear). This was my first teaching post - a little school in an outer Sydney suburb, only a few classrooms and a large field for playing. For a year this is where I would work, where I would learn much about teaching, much about life, and even more about myself.

The Headmistress seemed ancient to me a fresh 21 year old straight from college. I soon discovered her methods of teaching had been left behind many years before by most. Her ways were certainly not the ways I wanted to teach. My plans were full of creativity, play, relationships. I had big visions for my little class of 7 year olds! It didn’t matter to me that only one child in the class had been born in Australia, it didn’t matter to me that only that boy and a small group of English migrant kids actually spoke English. It didn’t matter to me that I had no ESL training, no Special Ed training and had no idea why one child crawled along the tops on the classroom cupboards whenever he got the chance.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that year lately as I’ve been doing some writing about my life. It was a very important year for me as a teacher and some of the things I learnt then are still at the forefront of my teaching philosophy now.

Despite all her ‘interesting’ educational ideas, the Headmistress loved those kids who had come from many parts of the world (in my class alone there were children from England, Italy, Greece, Spain, Lebanon, Indonesia) and been thrown into this hodge-podge community. She knew their families, she understood their struggles.

Despite my lack of experience and halting steps as a first year out teacher, those kids accepted me, tried their hardest to understand what I was trying to teach them and smiled at me even when they had no idea what I was going on about(my lack not theirs).

(One of the funny things I learnt that year were lots of new swear words out on the playground. I had grown up in the ‘oh so proper’ Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. It brought many a strange look from my mother when I would go home and ask her what certain words meant!)

Why am I writing all this now, here in this blog?

I learnt a lot about teaching that year, but when I look back, it was also a year that brought many challenges and learning experiences for me as a person. My ideals, my beliefs , my way of looking at people who were different – these were pushed and shaped and re-shaped, challenged and questioned. My dreams were tested, my visions given more practical outworkings! It was in many ways a year of living dangerously.

I want to have fresh dreams and visions for this year. I want to learn and be challenged right where I am. I want to be open to God’s call and step out into the year full of anticipation (and some fear!).